Shooting & Chuting the Alta Chutes, NZ – 09/13/06

*Last NZ TR of the 06′ trip to Middle Earth*

Date: September 12-13th, 2006

Location: Alta Chutes, Remarkables, New Zealand

(Click to see huge version)

Skiers: Skier666 and Woody (bestest of international ski buddies)

Synopsis: The drive was filled with tears as I drove to the Remarks as Captain Solo on the 12th. Not only did SQ99 and Slim leave that day, but it was spitting rain at the muddy car-park as the Thorlos entered the Tecnica shrine. Naturally, I head to the Alta Chutes and walk up the weather station to hit some of the center chutes that have been missing on this trip. The snow quality went from frozen granular mank to winterish blue-ice. It was one of those days where you could feel your ACL keeping your knee in place as you tried to control your speed.

Forward to the next day, Woody and I head for the weather station again to get some scenic shots as well as some totally rad action stills. The weather cleared and left a nice 5-10 cm of buffed goodness all over the chutes. Even better, when we arrived, not one person had hiked to the top, leaving it all in perfect condition. We took our time and explored some of the gnar area with a little side stepping to get into some of the nook and crannies of the area. The next day I would have to leave Woody, my bestest friend from Riverton, so to ski the chutes in such stellar conditions perfectly completed the trip!

Music: Amit – ‘Suicide Bomber’

Doom and Gloom…

Did I mention that it was flatlight, or is that a little too obvious?

I punched up to the weather station, only to see this. There is some major exposure down below, so losing equipment here or falling is not an option. The Paul Ahern cliff lies just below…

I ventured into one of the skier’s right chutes…nice and steep with some line options…

This will do…

The line…the center chute:

After a couple laps on Diagonlator, Pipeline etc, I decide to see how Telex is holding up. "Greatest shit snow on earth"…NZ’s new license plate slogan…

Ahhh, so the next day….looks a little different up there, as if it actually snowed:

Woody doing some forced hiking…

666 – "Ummm Woody, it looks pretty good up here." Woody replies in an out of breath tone "Shit mate, look up there, there ain’t even a bootpack."

These pesky clouds just would not leave us alone…not a bad view aye?

Weather Station Steeze…

The Gollum point…

"Should I make a turn and hike back up?" says 666…Woody in response "well, you could, but if something happens, you may die mate"…

Quite obvious of the location of my line…

Now for some gratuitous scenics….

Look at this guy…stoked for sure…

Wait a minute, is that…no…it can’t be…(Cue start of LOTR 4)

Gorgeous country aye?

Lets do some skiin’…666 off the top next to his friend Pesky Cloud…

ROOOOOOOOAAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRRRR!

666 and Double Cone…didn’t make it up there this year. Always next year aye?

Unfortunately, he found a deeper spot…

Woody, waist deep…notice anything special in this pic?

…but then he finds a nice little spot to milk…

Too tracked up for me, so I let him go for it…

Woody entering the center chute that I skied the day before….

OMG! He’s kicking up snow!!!!!!!!!!!

Oh yeah! KILL IT!

The 666 line. I hate to say it, but it was pretty good.

Woody, lower down on his line….

Good thing he’s wearing Steep Tech…

A little uphill side-steppin’ and we’ve got some better snow…Kiwi approved:

Hidden Chute above…need some fresh to jump into this one:

Yank approved…

"Does this go mate?" …"Only if you want to go to the hospital mate"

666 decides to slay powder instead of death…

He was offered milk…

…but Woody drank it further down the run

…MILKED!!!!!

How about a run down Diagonlator? Surely, its been skied today….

Just a hunch, but I think we’re the first…

So the wind must have funneled some magic in here….

Really couldn’t ask for a better last run aye?

If only I was sipping some Peets on the way down…

Jesus, this run was good. Thank god for cameras!

Big ups for Woody to give the Yank the untracked…

Well, that’s it!

Thanks for playing…

Maybe next year I can finish them a little sooner….

Nah…